Teixeira Not Worried About Being No. 1 or Fighting for the UFC Belt Just Yet

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Teixeira Not Worried About Being No. 1 or Fighting for the UFC Belt Just Yet

“I’m a big fan of Quinton Jackson,” Teixeira said on the Fuel TV post-fight show. “I told him, he’s my idol. And he said, ‘Now I’m your fan. Go get em. Go and be a champion.’”

With such an impressive winning streak, coupled with his UFC trifecta, Teixeira, alongside Alexander Gustaffson and Strikeforce transplant Gegard Mousasi, are among the top contenders to the light heavyweight throne.

Teixeira is a realist, however, knowing that he doesn’t want to sit on the sidelines waiting for possibilities, and wants to be ready when the possibility becomes a reality. He wants to jump right back in the Octagon and stay busy. Now that he’s in the UFC, he wants to fight, not wait.

Asked if he now considered himself to be the No. 1 contender in the division, Teixeira made no bones about his answer.

“No, that’s not my job (to determine),” he said. “No. 1 contender now is Chael Sonnen. You gotta respect that and let him see what’s happening. I think Chael is a good fighter, but I believe that Jon (Jones) is going to keep the title.”

Jones and Sonnen, currently the coaches on the latest run of The Ultimate Fighter, will square off in the UFC 159 headliner this April in New Jersey. And UFC president Dana White has already declared that if Dan Henderson defeats Lyoto Machida in the UFC 157 co-main event in late February, he will be next up for the Jones vs. Sonnen winner.

That’s an element that factors heavily into Teixeira’s thinking when asked if he wanted to fight the winner of Jones and Sonnen, especially with the possibility that Henderson could already be waiting in the wings ahead of him.